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CATL, a B-end power battery company, is accelerating its breakthrough to the C-end.

Recently, CATL's first offline brand display store in the world, New Energy Life Plaza, opened in Chengdu, Sichuan. The first batch of more than 40 automobile brands and more than 70 new energy models equipped with CATL batteries settled in.

As a company in the industrial chain, CATL has made a "huge" investment from behind the scenes to the front stage, abandoning the "middlemen" of car companies, reaching consumers directly through offline stores, and accelerating the creation of brand awareness in the market of "Choose an electric car, look for CATL."

In fact, this is not CATL’s first TO C initiative. In the past year, CATL, which has frequently appeared online and offline, has tried to increase consumers’ awareness and trust in its products as a battery brand in the changing market, and leverage its brand influence on the C-end to influence B-end decisions.

From behind the scenes to the front stage, "King Ning" is leveraging the C-end to continue to defend his voice and initiative in the market.

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Leverage the C-end to influence the B-end decision

Ranked first in the world in the field of power batteries for seven consecutive years, CATL has accumulated multiple advantages and resources in terms of scale, technology, capital, R&D, etc. as the industry leader over the years.

Despite its huge business scale, as a company in the industrial chain, its customers are major OEMs, and its marketing focuses on the B-end market rather than mass marketing. CATL, which "makes money quietly" behind the scenes, was previously in two situations: "leading" and "invisible" in the B-end and C-end markets respectively.

Under unbalanced development, CATL took the initiative to step to the forefront, revealing its TO C ambitions. It surrounded itself with both offline and online paths and launched a series of brand offensives directly to consumers.

Take CATL's first global new energy living plaza as an example. As the brand's first offline store, in terms of scale, it covers an area of ​​nearly 14,000 square meters and brings together nearly 50 brands and nearly 100 new energy vehicle models. CATL has made a "big" investment to get rid of the "middlemen" of car companies, stand in the front stage, and directly reach consumers through offline stores.

From the perspective of service model, CATL’s after-market service brand “Ningjia Service” was also launched at the same time as the offline show car stores. The first batch of 100 after-sales service stations were set up to provide consumers with after-sales services such as basic battery maintenance, health testing and mobile rescue.

From the perspective of profit model, the store only displays cars, not sells them. It is not possible to make profits through offline stores for the time being, and is only set up as a channel to directly contact consumers. Li Ping, vice chairman of CATL, said: "We once said that we will not make cars. Here I want to say that CATL will not sell cars either. This is a platform that connects all parties, and car companies will become the protagonists on the platform."

A reporter from 21st Century Business Herald learned that the store displays a variety of models equipped with CATL batteries. The explanation staff in the exhibition hall are all provided by CATL itself, and the explanations to customers will also focus on the battery part, including battery quality, safety, principles, etc. As a power battery supplier that directly reaches consumers, CATL is also trying hard to create the concept of "buying electric cars and looking for CATL batteries" for consumers.

In fact, before the construction of offline stores, CATL has been targeting C-end users offline in various ways over the past year. On the one hand, it has successively placed large-scale advertisements for new products in major airport terminals and high-speed rail stations in China to grab users' attention; on the other hand, CATL appeared at the Beijing Auto Show in April this year. As a representative of power battery companies, it stood among many car companies, displaying the company's technology and products and creating the brand awareness of "Choose an electric car, look for CATL."

In terms of online marketing, CATL has also begun to actively seek change. This is most clearly reflected in the operation of its social media accounts. CATL, which was almost "silent" on various platforms in 2021 and 2022, started intensive updates around August 2023, including daily product introductions, new product promotions, battery knowledge popularization, and other content, and launched related live broadcasts to directly face the C-end to start brand building.

As "King Ning" stepped to the front, Zeng Yuqun, chairman and CEO of CATL, also began to show up in public. In the era of "the boss of the car circle", he attended many new car launch events of automakers, including the Xiangjie, Avita and other brands, and promoted their own products on site. He also stood up for cooperating automakers at auto shows and interacted with the bosses of many automakers.

CATL pointed out in its semi-annual report that with the rapid development of the global new energy market, the battery production capacity of domestic and foreign companies has expanded rapidly, and there is a risk of intensified market competition. In its response measures, the company mentioned that CATL will accelerate brand promotion, make full use of online and offline communication channels, enhance end consumers' awareness of the company's products and brands, and enhance the comprehensive competitiveness of its products.

CATL, which used to make money behind the scenes, has frequently appeared online and offline, but its customers are still major automakers. Focusing on the C-end, CATL is also trying to improve consumers' awareness and trust in its products, leveraging the C-end brand influence to influence B-end decisions, further strengthening the brand's position in the minds of consumers, and thus forcing automakers to make purchasing decisions.

"King Ning" defends the market

The strategic direction decision is due to the different market environment. CATL has changed from hiding behind the scenes and making money quietly to a TO C strategy, launching a brand offensive directly to consumers, which is fundamentally to defend the market.

According to SNE Research data, CATL has topped the global power battery installation list for seven consecutive years, with an installation volume of 137.7GWh in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 29.5%. CATL alone accounts for 37.8% of the global market share, an increase of 2.1 percentage points year-on-year. Institutional analysis pointed out that with the launch of the high-performance Shenxing Plus battery and the new generation of Kirin high-power batteries, CATL is expected to further increase its share in the Chinese domestic market.

From an objective data point of view, the position of "Ning Wang" is stable and the advantage is still large. However, compared with the past business performance of CATL and combined with the current changes in the power battery market, it seems that CATL's "lying down and making money" is no longer as easy as before.

According to CATL's 2024 semi-annual report, the company achieved operating income of 166.767 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year decrease of 11.88%, with a daily income of 900 million yuan. Its leading position in the industry is consolidated, but with the continuous decline in power battery prices, this is the third consecutive quarter that CATL's revenue has declined year-on-year.

In addition, with the continuous decline in lithium battery prices, industry competition has become increasingly fierce. Due to the anxiety of capacity expansion and insufficient supply, as well as the consideration of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, in order to strengthen the independent control of the automotive industry chain, many vehicle manufacturers such as Changan, SAIC, GAC, and Geely have clearly proposed to enter the power battery field through self-research, self-construction, joint construction, and equity investment, and began to "manufacture batteries" and layout battery raw materials in a backward integrated manner.

"King Ning", who has been in the top position for a long time, also has his own anxieties.

When the B-end began to become self-reliant, CATL chose to focus on the C-end, skipping over car companies and directly occupying the minds of users as a battery brand. It created a brand awareness in the market of "Choose an electric car, look for CATL" and pushed battery brands to be included in consumers' important considerations when choosing electric cars, thus forcing OEMs to purchase batteries from CATL in order to gain more market share.

Once the logical closed loop is formed, CATL's TO C strategy will begin to work. The increase in C-end influence, compared with its previous leading position in the single B-end market, also gives CATL more voice and initiative.

Judging from the fact that most car models on the market currently have "CATL" batteries clearly marked on them, or even some "falsely labeled", with the CATL batteries that are only installed in top-end models being used as one of their promotional points, the gap between the B-end and the C-end is bridged through brand narrative. The recognition of CATL among C-end users is constantly increasing, and has already affected the publicity and decision-making of car companies. The TO C expansion strategy is gradually taking effect.

By directly reaching consumers, raising their awareness of battery technology, and strengthening battery marketing, CATL is attempting to reshape the industry's voice and regain the initiative in the changing power battery market.